San Carpoforo Creek flows south out of the Santa Lucia Range in the northern Los Padres National Forest, onto lands owned by the Hearst Corporation and then to the Pacific Ocean. The creek was the route of the historic Portola Expedition and it was identified as an area of high ecological significance by the Forest Service. San Carpoforo Creek was not studied by the Forest Service. Conservationists believe that it is free flowing and possesses outstanding values.

Outstanding Values

Cultural San Carpoforo Creek was the route of the historic Portola Expedition of 1769, which led to the establishment of the California Missions and ultimately the European colonization of northern California. According to journal entries by Portola members, contact between Portola and native people took place on the banks of the San Carpoforo and therefore, the area is considered to be one of the last primal remnants of the original encounter between indigenous and European consciousness anywhere on the Pacific coast. In addition, a venerable grove of olive trees near the confluence of San Carpoforo and Dutra Creeks marks the location where an outpost of the Mission San Antonio de Padua once stood.

Wildlife The creek supports one of the few remaining populations of sensitive foothill yellowlegged frogs on the Central Coast, as well as endangered California red-legged frogs.

Fish The California Department of Fish and Game considers the creek to be one of two of the most important spawning streams for threatened steelhead in San Luis Obispo County (the upper section of the creek on National Forest lands is in Monterey County).

Ecological The creek was identified as an area of high ecological significance by the Forest Service due to the presence of sensitive and rare frogs and the threatened steelhead.